U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske this morning outlined the White House’s drug policy – “the blue print that directs all of the federal government” – and tamping down marijuana use and cultivation plays a big role in the policy.

Kerlikowske, speaking this morning at a press conference at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, said the country won’t be able to arrest its way out of its drug problem and we’re “not going to solve it by drug legalization.”

He added at the end of the press conference that specific reaction to marijuana legalization in Washington and Colorado was an issue for the Justice Department to handled, but “nothing has changed as a result of those votes” in terms of public health.

Here is the full statement from the press conference:

Unfortunately the drug debate policy in this country right now is locked into very counter productive ideological back and forth between the two extremes. War on drugs, incarcerate people, use the criminal justice system repeatedly or let’s have drug legalization.

And those vocal advocates for drug legalization look at it often times as a silver bullet solutions. Well one thing I actually know after the four years of serving in this administration and understating this in so much more detail … is if there is a short bumpers ticker answer to this really complex problem that our nation faces on drugs you can be assured of one thing that it is wrong.

We’re not going to solve it by drug legalization, and we’re certainly not in my career going to arrest our way out of this problem either.

Kerlikowske wasn’t speaking of marijuana specifically but the document published this morning by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy does. In one section, the policy is to continue efforts to eradicate the cultivation of marijuana on public lands and in houses.

The White House policy on drugs is to emphasize prevention and treatment, but to also support law enforcement efforts, he said.

Here’s the relevant marijuana section of the policy:

Eradicate Marijuana Cultivation

Remote marijuana grow sites on public lands pose a significant threat to public safety and the environment.

The cultivation of marijuana frequently entails the diversion of water resources, the clearing of native brush, and the use of banned pesticides In a 2012 study, researchers documented poisonous chemicals and toxicants at an abandoned marijuana cultivation site situated within territory inhabited by fishers, a rare forest carnivore declared a candidate species for listing under the Federal Endangered Species Act 81

At the Federal level, the effort to eliminate marijuana production on our public lands is led by the Public Lands Drug Control Committee The committee aligns policies and coordinates programs to support field-leveleradicationoperations,investigations,andintelligenceandinformationsharing Centraltothis process is the work of the public lands agencies, which identify and document the marijuana threat in the areas under their jurisdiction This information will inform the development of the Domestic Cannabis Cultivation Assessment, a comprehensive, national-level strategic assessment of cannabis cultivation and marijuana production in the United States

Removing Marijuana from our Public Lands

In 2012, Operation Mountain Sweep, an 8-week, multi-agency and multistate marijuana operation target- ing large-scale illegal marijuana grows on public lands in seven states, eradicated more than 726,000 marijuana plants 82,83 The value of the removed plants was estimated to be over $1 45 billion In addition to the marijuana plants eradicated, huge amounts of trash, miles of irrigation line, and many pounds of fertil- izer and pesticides were removed from grow sites on public lands The coordinated efforts of seven U S Attorneys, as well as support from ten HIDTAs in seven states (Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington), were integral to the success of this operation

Stop Indoor Marijuana Production

Because of pressure from marijuana eradication efforts, many cultivators have been forced to abandon large outdoor cannabis plots in favor of easier-to-conceal indoor cultivation The detection of these indoor grows has proven challenging for law enforcement In 2012, DEA and partner agencies seized more than 2,500 indoor grow operations, with more than 302,000 plants eradicated

Obama’s written statement accompanying the document includes concerns of marijuana use by young people:

I am pleased to transmit the 2013 National Drug Control Strategy, my Administration’s blueprint for reducing drug use and its consequences in the United States. As detailed in the pages that follow, my Administration remains committed to a balanced public health and public safety approach to drug policy. This approach is based on science, not ideology—and scientific research suggests that we have made real progress.

The rate of current cocaine use in the United States has dropped by 50 percent since 2006, and methamphet- amine use has declined by one-third. New data released this year suggest that we are turning a corner in our efforts to address the epidemic of prescription drug abuse, with the number of people abusing prescription drugs decreasing by nearly 13 percent—from 7 million in 2010 to 6.1 million in 2011. And the number of Americans reporting that they drove after using illicit drugs also dropped by 12 percent between 2010 and 2011.

While this progress is encouraging, we must sustain our commitment to preventing drug use before it starts—the most cost-effective way to address the drug problem.The importance of prevention is becoming ever more apparent. Despite positive trends in other areas, we continue to see elevated rates of marijuana use among young people, likely driven by declines in perceptions of risk. We must continue to get the facts out about the health risks of drug use and support the positive influences in young people’s lives that help them avoid risky behaviors.

The Strategy that follows presents a sophisticated approach to a complicated problem, encompassing preven- tion, early intervention, treatment, recovery support, criminal justice reform, effective law enforcement, and international cooperation.

I look forward to working with the Congress and stakeholders at all levels in advancing this 21st century approach to drug policy.